From a two-phase mixture of water and oil (either commercial fuel or pure organic solvent), a simple amino acid derivative, N-lauroyl-L-alanine has been shown to be able to gelate the oil phase selectively; SEM and FT-IR provided molecular level insights into the process of gelation.

This review discusses various facets of sugar-derived LMWGs, uncovering their mechanisms of gelation, structure–property relationships, scope and numerous applications.

This feature article describes the recent developments in the design of cationic lipids and their applications in gene delivery. Various structure–activity investigations explaining the variations in gene transfection efficacies with respect to different molecular structures of the cationic lipids have been discussed. Gene transfer abilities are presented in relation to aggregation properties of different aqueous formulations such as cationic liposomes and surfactant aggregates from various amphiphiles and cationic lipids, as a function of their hydrophobic parts, linkers and head groups.